Method of training an employee

ABSTRACT

The invention is a method and system that provides for efficiently incentivizing and rewarding employees for their successful use of a training system or other employer defined metrics by utilizing Smartcard cards and You Did It Right cards. Successful demonstration of training and performance metrics is rewarded through such rewards to supervisors and to employees as gift cards or discount coupons redeemable for goods and/or services at retail/service centers.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application that claims the benefitof co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/372,236 filed on Feb.17, 2009 which itself is a continuation-in-part application that claimsthe benefit of PCT Application number PCT/US08/68912 filed on Jul. 1,2008 which PCT application claims the benefit of U.S. provisionalapplication having Ser. No. 60/947,499 filed on Jul. 2, 2007.application Ser. No. 12/372,236 and PCT application numberPCT/US08/68912 also claim the benefit as a continuation-in-part of U.S.patent application having Ser. No. 11/340,205 filed on Jan. 26, 2006which itself claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application havingSer. No. 60/660,300 on Mar. 10, 2005.

U.S. utility patent application Ser. No. 12/372,236, PCT applicationPCT/US08/68912, U.S. utility application Ser. No. 11/340,205, U.S.provisional application 60/947,499, and U.S. provisional application60/660,300, are herein incorporated by reference in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of employee incentives and inparticular to a method of incentivizing and rewarding employees wherebyincentive rewards are presented to employees after they satisfactorilycomplete a training module, meet health/fitness goals, or otherwisesatisfactorily perform actions that the employer wants to incentivize.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel method forefficiently incentivizing and rewarding employees for their successfuluse of the training system, health regime, sales goals, injuryprevention, or other employer defined performance metrics by utilizingrewards in the form of gifts or discount coupons redeemable for goodsand/or services at retail/service centers. In alternate embodiments,these discount coupons are only redeemed when further combined withemployees' own money. This system provides employers with a way ofinfusing incentive and training goals into an employment setting with abalanced cost. The boundaries of the present invention are not limitedby the brick and mortar, pen and paper world as the invention may beutilized via the internet or other virtual settings.

In this novel way, the present invention includes discrete steps appliedto train or otherwise measure progress of employees, reward employees,and capture the essence of the applied reward as it relates to thecompleted training module or satisfied performance metric. Thus, thesystem is designed to concentrate the reward so as to parallel thebenefit gained by the employer via the training or performance metric.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is best understood when the following detaileddescription of the invention is read with reference to the accompanyingdrawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram showing the method of rewarding trainees thatutilizes a You Did It Right! card;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram showing the method of rewarding trainees thatutilizes a SmartCard card;

FIG. 3 is an example representation of a You Did It Right! card;

FIG. 4 is an example representation of a SmartCard card;

FIG. 5 is an example representation of an input screen of an interactiveinput response device where the device is a personal computer terminaland the method of rewarding trainees utilizes the You Did It Right! cardembodiment;

FIG. 6 is an example representation of a response screen of aninteractive input response device where the device is a personalcomputer terminal and the reward is a gift code that may be used toacquire for goods/services;

FIG. 7 is an example representation of an input screen of an interactiveinput response device where the device is a personal computer terminaland the method of rewarding trainees utilizes the SmartCard cardembodiment;

FIG. 8 is an example representation of an input testing screen of aninteractive input response device where the device is a personalcomputer terminal and the method of rewarding trainees utilizes theSmartCard card embodiment;

FIG. 9 is an example representation of a response screen of aninteractive input response device where the device is a personalcomputer terminal and the reward is a gift card that will be mailed tothe employee and may be redeemed for goods/services;

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram showing the basic method without a 3rd partycard Provider;

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram showing the basic method utilizing a 3rd partycard provider.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram showing the utilization of a You Did It Right!card as part of the method where the incentive company contracts withthe retail/service center.

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram showing the utilization of a SmartCard as partof the method where the incentive company contracts with theretail/service center;

FIG. 14 is a flow diagram showing the health screening embodiment of theMethod;

FIG. 15 is a perspective drawing showing an employee using theinteractive input response device where the device is a personalcomputer terminal; and

FIG. 16 is a flow diagram showing the testing subroutine that takesplace during the testing step where the employee is tested.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It is to be understood by a person having ordinary skill in the art thatthe present discussion is a description of exemplary embodiments only,and is not intended as limiting the broader aspects of the presentinvention. The following examples are provided to further illustrate theinvention and are not to be construed to unduly limit the scope of theinvention.

The present invention is defined by a number of steps with differentactors or entities carrying out those steps. Typically, there are 4 or 5principal actors. Depending on the particular embodiment, these actorscan be identified by a number of different labels some of which will beexplained herein.

The first actor is the client company. The client company is anyorganization that has a need to train or otherwise monitor and improvethe performance of its individual constituents. Typically, this is acompany that needs to train or monitor its employees. For instance, thecompany might wish to train employees about a new procedure or salestechnique, or monitor efficient use of a machine, or even monitor andtrain regarding safety and personal health procedures. However, theclient company could also be a school, a sports team, a governmentagency, or other such organizations. A school might wish to monitorteachers or educate students. The sports team might need to teach atechnique or monitor personal health practices. Likewise, a governmentagency might need to train its employees.

A second actor is the individual employee. The employee is any humanconstituent of an organization that needs to be trained, incentivized,or otherwise monitored. Typically the employee works for a company butthe employee could be a student, team member, or even an independentcontractor performing work for the client company.

A third actor is the retail store or other entity that accepts rewardcards and coupons from the employee and grants discounts on purchases ofgoods or services. This retail store offers goods or services to theemployee. It can operate from brick and mortar store fronts or it can bevirtual in nature operating via the Internet. In the preferredembodiment, the retail store or service center's trade name will appearon the face of the coupon. In one embodiment, several different retailstores may have their trademarks appear in connection with a singlereward and coupon such that a single coupon may be redeemable at one ofmultiple retail stores.

A fourth actor is the incentive company. This entity provides trainingmodules, health assessments, or performance metrics to the clientcompany, based on client company's goals, along with correlated rewardsand coupons. The performance metrics can be supplied to the incentivecompany up front as part of the contract between the client company andthe incentive company or they can be supplied as necessary bysupervisors or managers. For instance, in one embodiment, the incentivecompany provides the managers with a website where they can upload a fewkey behaviors that they want to incentivize. The incentive companycollects, correlates, and analyzes incentive/performance data andreports such analysis and aggregate data to the client company. Inalternate embodiments, the incentive company either produces the rewardsand coupons itself, receives the rewards and coupons from the retailstore, or receives the rewards and coupons from a third party cardprovider.

A fifth actor is a third party card provider. The third party cardprovider exists in alternate embodiments in order to facilitate thereward and coupon transfers between the retail establishments and theincentive company. As such, the third party card provider issues giftcard rewards and/or the coupon rewards. This company can also extendcredit to the incentive company to cover the potential for couponredemption.

In addition to the principal actors, there are important concepts todefine with respect to the present invention. First, there is thetraining module. The training module is a training process designed bythe incentive company to meet the training needs of the client company.This module includes many different approaches to train the employees.Typically the training module will include an instruction step and atesting step.

The instruction step is used to convey individual nuggets of informationto the employee. This instruction step could include seminars, lectures,demonstrations, or wall posters among many others. In an embodiment thatuses wall posters, the posters are customizable whereby employers and/ortheir managers can upload key behaviors they want to incentivize and canalso upload pictures for the posters (such as photo of an employeeperforming a task the correct way). The instruction step subject mattercan vary greatly. It might involve instructions on proper use of a pieceof machinery or it might involve work place etiquette. Further, theinstruction step subject might extend to personal health and fitness orproblem solving skills.

One embodiment of the instruction step utilizes a concept called“SmartCards.” In this embodiment, the important nuggets of informationare displayed in the facility on a poster for the employees to observeon a daily basis. In the preferred embodiment, these same nuggets arereproduced in miniature form on a small card, called a SmartCard, whichthe employee can carry around for reference and review. This SmartCardcould be a physical card made of paper or other three dimensionalmaterial or it could be an email or other electronic form. In any event,the SmartCard will have a series of desired learning points displayedthereon that the employee is advised to study.

Likewise, the testing step can take many forms. In the preferredembodiment, the employee is tested on the information contained on theSmartCard or other embodiments of the instruction step via aninteractive input response device. This interactive input responsedevice is typically a computer terminal located in a kiosk in thefacility or it could be a personal or office computer. In someembodiments a computer program running on the terminal would present aseries of questions to the employee related to the nuggets on theSmartCard. In the preferred embodiment, the interactive input responsedevice is in the form of a terminal directly linked via the internet orsome intranet to the incentive company servers and database where codeis executed that presents a series of questions related to the nuggetsof information on the SmartCard. The employee would input answers viathe computer to satisfy the testing step. In alternate embodiments, inplace of a computer terminal, the testing step is actuated via theinteractive input response device that could utilize a telephone orother means such as paper mail forms. In the case of a telephone, ratherthan directly logging onto the terminal, the employee would call atelephone number found on the SmartCard and the phone number would linkto the incentive company's server database where the questions would beasked and the employee would respond.

In the case of the SmartCard embodiment, the SmartCard itself would alsoinclude an alpha-numeric identifier that is entered by the employee intothe interactive input response device so that the incentive companyservers know which questions apply to the data contained on theSmartCard. Likewise, the alpha-numeric identifier could be entered viatelephone or via other means such as paper mail forms.

The training module may also be a set of performance metrics used tomonitor and judge the performance of employees for particular tasks andjob requirements. For instance, employers would monitor employees to seeif they are performing satisfactorily in compliance with these metrics.Observation of compliance with these metrics would parallel successfultesting in the testing sub-step. Employees would, thus, be expected todemonstrate information gleaned in the instruction step by integratingthat information into their job performance. When the supervisors, peeremployees, or others depending on the particular embodiment, notice theadvancement based on the nuggets, the employee would satisfy the testingstep requirements. In one embodiment of this form of the training andtesting module, the supervisor would be given a number of “You Did ItRight!” cards, and, upon observing compliance with the performancemetrics, would be entitled to distribute the You Did It Right! cards tothe respective employees who satisfied the performance metric. The YouDid It Right! card would have an alpha-numeric identifier and also havefields for the supervisor to fill in such information as the ID numberof the employee observed, the ID number of the supervisor who observedthe employee, the date observed, and check boxes for the behaviorsobserved in compliance with the training step. To complete the testingstep, the employee would enter this information from the You Did ItRight! card along with the alpha-numeric number into the interactiveinput response device such as a computer terminal or other means such asa telephone. This information is thereby related to and stored in theincentive company's database for analysis. In this way, the You Did ItRight! card is thus a way to validate that feedback was given and toeliminate pencil whipping among other positive outcomes.

Parallel to the concept of issuing You Did It Right! cards fordemonstration of performance metrics is issuing you-did-it-wrong cardsfor failure to demonstrate the performance metrics correctly. Here thesupervisors are given a set of you-did-it wrong cards where they fillout the employee ID number of the employee and the employee ID number ofthe supervisor. The supervisor then checks off what the employee wasobserved doing incorrectly. The supervisor logs this information inthrough the interactive input response device and issues the card to theemployee. This information is thereby related to and stored in theincentive company's database for analysis and later presentment to theclient company.

According to an embodiment of the invention, a method for training atrainee and rewarding a supervisor of a trainee comprises the additionalsteps of calculating the value and type of reward to be given to thesupervisor by the network system computer; and issuing the supervisor areward.

Another concept that needs to be defined is the critical rewardsconcept. The reward is a valuable offering provided upon thesatisfactory completion of the testing step of a training module.Typically the client company is seen as conferring the reward on theemployee. The reward, however, may originate from a variety of sources,including the incentive company as in the preferred embodiment. Thereward may be a physical good and it may also be a gift card that can beredeemed for goods, services, or other employee related perks such asadditional vacation days. The reward may be in the form of redeemabletoken-tickets which may be collected and later redeemed for physicalprizes from stores or catalogues. The reward might be a scratch off cardwhere the employee scratches off one or more hidden areas to revealprizes. This scratch off might be a physical card or it could be anonline virtual scratch off. In such a virtual scratch off, the virtualscratch off comprises a web page comprising a scratch off area whichreveals a prize when the user clicks inside the scratch off area. Theprize could be a movie ticket, a trip/vacation, or meal. In oneembodiment of the present invention, the reward is a discount couponthat can be redeemed at the retail store. This coupon can take on avariety of forms. It could literally be a piece of paper indicating adiscount on a particular brand item, on a particular class of goods,from a particular store, or from a particular group of stores. Forexample, the coupon might apply to Nike® shoes from any store, or to anyfootwear from any store, or to any goods from a Foot Locker® store, orto any goods from a Foot Locker® or a WalMart® store, or to an OliveGarden Italian Restaurant® eating establishment or to any combinationthereof.

In each of these rewards scenarios described above, the reward ispreferably issued from the incentive company. In the embodiments wherethe employee contacts the incentive company servers via the interactiveinput response device, the servers are programmed to issue the reward.The type of reward issued can vary depending on the particularembodiment. The reward could be directly tied to the particular nuggetsgleaned and successfully tested in a test on the interactive inputresponse device in the SmartCard embodiment or observed in the You DidIt Right! card embodiment. The reward could also be given at random sothat one satisfaction of the testing step results in, for instance, a$10 gift card, a $20 gift card, or a $100 gift card chosen at random.Additionally, in the preferred embodiment, the reward may alternativelybe linked to a variable win algorithm that rewards first time employeesmore often and with higher value gifts than repeat employees. In allcases, the reward system screens out the employees from fraudulentlyclaiming more cards than received and likewise monitors supervisorsdistribution of cards to prevent managers from unfairly rewarding thesame employee too frequently.

Importantly, the coupon is not limited to the brick and mortar world,that is, it can be used in the virtual world of the Internet. Eachcoupon will have a unique identification number associated with it aswell as other information about the value of the reward, the redemptionlocations to which it is tied, and any other applicable conditions. Theidentification number can be entered in the appropriate manner on awebsite of a retail store that honors the coupon. In this way, theholder of the coupon would be able to use the identification number toredeem the reward over the Internet. Additionally, this identificationnumber may be displayed literally using Arabic numerals but it could berepresented via scanner/computer readable bar code or otherwise withimbedded binary numbers readable by a computer.

As for the value of the reward, the amount could vary considerably. Inthe coupon embodiment however, the basic concept is that the employeewould be offered a discount. In many cases the employee would still berequired to convey some of his or her own money in order to complete thetransaction. The coupon could, thus, be $5.00 off of a purchase of$10.00 or $50.00 off of a purchase of $100.00. Just the same, the couponcould be 25% off total purchase or 50% off of a single item purchase.Moreover, the coupon could also be for $20.00 off of a purchase of$20.00 or more in which case the employee would not have to use any ofhis or her own money if the purchase amounted to exactly $20.00.

Utilizing these entities and concepts, the present invention furthercontemplates a system whereby incentive companies contract eitherdirectly with retail stores or through third party card providers toobtain redeemable coupons. The incentive companies also contract withclient companies to provide training modules and reward packagesintegrating the redeemable coupons. When the training modules aresatisfactorily completed by the trainees or employees, reward couponsare distributed to the employees. The employees then take the coupons tothe relevant retail store front, either the physical store or the onlinestore, where the employees make purchases using their own money incombination with the discount coupon. The retailer (or service provider)then, having extended provisional credit to the coupon generator,applies to the respective coupon generator, that is either to the thirdparty card provider or directly to the incentive company. In the case ofthe third party card provider, that entity will then, in turn, apply theredeemed coupon to the incentive company for reimbursement.

A final step in alternate embodiments occurs after the primary cycle hasbeen completed, that is, after the instruction, the testing, therewarding, and, alternatively in some embodiments, the redemption, there-imbursement, etc. . . . . This final step is the reporting step andinvolves the aggregation of data by the incentive company and then thereporting back to the client company this data. For instance, in ahypothetical manufacturing setting, the incentive company would providethe client company with SmartCards and associated potential rewards toteach ergonomic methods for lifting a box. The client company wouldoffer instruction to the employees and distribute the SmartCards to theemployees. The employees would then access an interactive input responsedevice such as a computer terminal or telephone, enter the SmartCardalpha numeric number, take a test, receive a reward for passing thetest, and redeem the reward at a retail location. The retail center thenseeks reimbursement (as necessary such as for the coupon embodiment)from either the third party card provider or the incentive company asnecessitated by the particular embodiment. The incentive companyreceives information on test passage rates regarding the variousemployees via the computer terminal and data regarding their respectiveredemptions of rewards via retail centers and/or the third party cardproviders. The incentive company then aggregates, analyzes, and reportsthe data to the client company. The data can be aggregated and sortedinto unit areas, sub areas, particular supervisor areas, or otherdivisions from companywide level down to the individual level. For eachlevel, the progress or lack thereof can be tracked and monitored. Forinstance, in a factory, second shift supervisors might observe 3employees lifting with their legs and not their backs and accordinglyhand out 3 You Did It Right! cards in month 1. If they then handed out 7such You Did It Right! cards in month 2, the incentive company wouldtrack this data and report it back to the client company. This reportwould be in the form of updatable wall posters but also on a websiteportal or dashboard. For instance, the website view will represent allmanagers as color coded dots with red for noncompliant, yellow formarginal compliance, and green for full compliance with the improvementmetrics. Additionally, clicking on the coded dots reveals the underlyingraw data.

Likewise, in a hypothetical manufacturing setting where You Did ItRight! cards are utilized, the incentive company would provide theclient company with the You Did It Right! cards and associated potentialrewards to reward successful utilization of ergonomic methods forlifting a box. The client company distributes the You Did It Right!cards to supervisors to use to reward employees. The employees, havingreceived a You Did It Right! card would then access an interactive inputresponse device such as a computer terminal, enter the You Did It Right!card data, receive a reward, and redeem the reward at a retail location.The retail center then seeks reimbursement (as necessary such as for thecoupon embodiment) from either the third party card provider or theincentive company as necessitated by the particular embodiment. Theincentive company receives information entered into the terminal by theemployee from the card regarding the success of the employee as well asthe supervisor who observed the success. Communicating with the retailcenter or the third party card provider, the incentive company alsoreceives data regarding the respective redemptions of rewards. Theincentive company then aggregates, analyzes, and reports the data to theclient company.

Another way the You Did It Right! card concept may be used is in a peerreview situation where peer employees (instead of supervisors) reviewpositive or negatives implementations of the instruction step. Here, theincentive company would provide the client company with the You Did ItRight! cards and associated potential rewards to reward to incentivizesuccessful identification of successes and/or failures to following thetraining step. The client company distributes the You Did It Right!cards to employees, the employees observe their peers, and describesafety hazards and mistakes and/or successes of other employees. Theemployees, having filled out their You Did It Right! card would thenaccess a computer terminal, enter the You Did It Right! card dataidentifying the safety hazards created by others or the successes ofothers, enter the alpha-numeric identifier, receive a reward, and redeemthe reward at a retail location. The retail center then seeksreimbursement (as necessary such as for the coupon embodiment) fromeither the third party card provider or the incentive company asnecessitated by the particular embodiment. The incentive company thenreceives information entered into the terminal by the employee from thecard regarding the peer and workplace review by the employee of theother employees. Communicating with the retail center or the third partycard provider, the incentive company also receives data regarding therespective redemptions of rewards. The incentive company thenaggregates, analyzes, and reports the data to the client company,thereby allowing the company to have a record of success and failureswhile allowing whistle blowers the benefit of anonymity.

Likewise, in a hypothetical business or manufacturing setting whereaggregate employees' health is being promoted, monitored and rewarded,the incentive company would provide the client company with literatureregarding healthy living. The incentive company or a medical firm wouldschedule health screenings whereby employees are examined. Whenemployees receive positive checkups or otherwise show improvement inhealth, such as an improved cholesterol score, the employees are givenyou-did-it right cards. The employees, having received a You Did ItRight! card would then access a computer terminal, enter the You Did ItRight! card data, receive a reward, and redeem the reward at a retaillocation. The retail center then seeks reimbursement (as necessary suchas for the coupon embodiment) from either the third party card provideror the incentive company as necessitated by the particular embodiment.The incentive company then receives information entered into theterminal by the employee from the You Did It Right! card regarding thehealth status of the employee. Communicating with the retail center orthe third party card provider, the incentive company also receives dataregarding the respective redemptions of rewards. The incentive companythen aggregates, analyzes, and reports the data to the client company.As such, without disclosing private health data of individual employees,the incentive company is able to report on the aggregate health of theclient company's work force as well as any improvements. Further, theincentive company will be able to tailor health incentive programs forhigher risk employees without penetrating the employee/employer privacywall.

I claim:
 1. A method of training employees comprising: Step 1) providing an observer of an employee with a plurality of you-did-it-right cards wherein each of the you-did-it-right cards is associated with a unique identifier, with a training metric, and with the observer; Step 2) providing an interactive input device linked to a network system computer; Step 3) observing the employee for demonstration of the training metric and associating the you-did-it-right card with the employee; Step 4) using the you-did-it-right card to access the interactive input device; Step 5) calculating a value and type of reward to be given to the observer and to the employee based on the association of the you-did-it-right card with the employee and also based on the unique identifier, by the network system computer.
 2. The method of training employees of claim 1 wherein the observer is a supervisor of the employee.
 3. The method of training employees of claim 1 wherein the unique identifier is an alpha numeric code.
 4. The method of training employees of claim 1 wherein the unique identifier is a code readable only by an image scanner linked to a computer.
 5. The method of training employees of claim 1 wherein the interactive input device is a computer.
 6. The method of training employees of claim 1 wherein the interactive input device is a telephone.
 7. The method of training employees of claim 1 further comprising a step 6, following step 5, which comprises the step of issuing the reward to the observer and also to the employee by the network system computer.
 8. The method of training employees of claim 7 wherein the calculations performed in step by the network system computer is based on a variable win algorithm that rewards first time employee you-did-it-right card recipients with higher value rewards than repeat you-did-it-right recipients and wherein the reward could be equal to zero.
 9. The method of training employees of claim 7 further comprising a step 7, following step 6, which comprises the step of collecting and analyzing a plurality of statistics as to a number of you-did-it-right cards issued.
 10. A method of training employees comprising: Step 1) providing a supervisor of an employee with a plurality of smart cards wherein each of the smart cards is associated with a unique identifier, with a training metric, and with the supervisor; Step 2) providing an interactive input device linked to a network system computer; Step 3) using the smart card to access the interactive input device by the employee and taking a test based on the smart card and the training metric by the employee; Step 4) calculating a value and type of reward to be given to the supervisor and to the employee based on the association of the smart card with the employee, based on the unique identifier, and also based on the employee's performance under the test of step 3, by the network system computer.
 11. The method of training employees of claim 10 wherein the training metric comprises a plurality of training metrics and the test taken by the employee in step 3 tests each of the plurality of training metrics.
 12. The method of training employees of claim 10 wherein the unique identifier is an alpha numeric code.
 13. The method of training employees of claim 10 wherein the unique identifier is a code readable only by an image scanner linked to a computer.
 14. The method of training employees of claim 10 wherein the interactive input device is a computer.
 15. The method of training employees of claim 10 wherein the interactive input device is a telephone.
 16. The method of training employees of claim 10 further comprising a step 5, following step 4, which comprises the step of issuing the reward to the supervisor and also to the employee by the network system computer.
 17. The method of training employees of claim 16 wherein the calculations performed in step 4 by the network system computer is based on a variable win algorithm that rewards employees who took a test for the first time in step 3 higher value rewards than repeat test takers and wherein the reward issued to the employee or to the supervisor could have a value equal to zero.
 18. The method of training employees of claim 16 further comprising a step 6, following step 5, which comprises the step of collecting and analyzing a plurality of statistics as to a number of employees who took tests and analyzing a plurality of test scores. 